elävät

Elävät is a Finnish word with two primary grammatical roles. It is the third-person plural present tense form of the verb elää, meaning "they live" or "they are living." For example: Linnut elävät metsissä. This usage is common in everyday language when describing where living beings are or what they do.

Elävät can also appear as the nominative plural form of the adjective elävä, meaning alive or living. In this function, elävät can act as a noun phrase referring to living beings, as in elävät ja kuolleet, meaning "the living and the dead." The stem eläv- also yields other case forms such as elävien (genitive plural) and elävissä (inessive plural). In practice, the nominal use is most common in formal, literary, or religious contexts, while the verb form is typical in ordinary conversation.

In summary, elävät serves as both a verb form meaning "they live" and as the plural form of the adjective elävä, which can function as a noun phrase meaning "the living." Related terms include elävä (singular adjective), elää (to live), elollinen (living in a philosophical or biological sense), and elottomat (inanimate). The word reflects Finnish’s morphological richness, where a single form can function across verb and adjectival-nominal roles depending on context.